Chapter 2
After School Tea
"Sawa-chaaaaan!"
Yui and Ritsu both charged and leapt forward to give their old teacher the hug of the year. Sawako fell from her seat along with her chair while Mio and Mugi looked down at them along with the current members of the Light Music Club. School had just ended and the girls were having one of their daily after school tea. Since they were free for the rest of the afternoon, the girls of Houkago Tea Time decided to pay the old music room a visit and maybe catch up.
"Oh, for the love of fries." Sawako groaned as she struggled to sit up. Ritsu and Yui were still holding onto her, not showing any sign of letting go.
Ui giggled and placed the tray of sweets on the table, happy to see that nothing has really changed. "Oh, sis." She said. "You're going to crush her."
"But we missed her so much!" Yui said. "We missed you all so much!" She then stood up and hugged Azusa tightly, rubbing her cheek against hers affectionately. "Especially you, Azu-nyan! How have you been?"
"We haven't even been gone for that long." Mio commented.
Azusa could only sigh as she let Yui molest her cheek. She hasn't done that in a while, after all.
Sumire grabbed more chairs so that the others could sit with them and started placing teacups on the table while Ui took care of the sweets. "Why don't you guys join us for tea?" She told the members of Houkago Tea Time, completely surprising them.
"She's a Mugi clone!" Ritsu gasped.
Mio and Mugi smiled at each other and looked at them again, feeling the nostalgia. "Of course, we'd love to." Mugi said.
"So how have things been with the club?" Mio inquired, gracefully taking a sip from her cup.
Sawako shot a mischievous stare at the current Light Music Club members, knowing that they knew that nothing much has really changed. Like their predecessors, they spent more time chatting and having tea than actually playing music. But unlike Houkago Tea Time, they at least practiced almost every day.
Azusa laughed nervously. "Well, um... we've been practicing a lot, you know. We just wanted to take a break today."
"Really?" Ritsu said, grinning just as impishly as Sawako.
"Y-Yes, of course!" Azusa insisted, pouting. She really wanted to make some progress this year, but old habits just die too hard, especially when they had members like Ui and Sumire around serving them such delicious food. She's worried that it might even go on until they graduate.
Yui turned to Jun and Ui. "Have you written any new songs?"
The current members all looked at each other. All of them were suddenly too shy to talk. The answer to that question was going to be embarrassing, considering it's already the second quarter of the school year.
Ritsu, Yui, Mugi and Mio all looked at them eagerly.
"No, we really haven't." Ui finally said, not looking bothered at all about it. "We've only been playing your old songs."
"Well, that's not so bad." Ritsu said.
Mio smiled, hoping that the seniors wouldn't get offended. "Yeah. Writing songs really shouldn't be rushed. It takes a lot of work, but in the end it feels good after you've finished one."
"She's right, girls." Said Sawako. "Writing songs because you're inspired to is a lot better than being forced to."
Suddenly, the open door made a creaking noise, catching the attention of everyone in the room. They turned to the direction of the noise and saw a tall, well-dressed man holding a piece of paper, probably in his early twenties, knocking twice on the door.
"Good afternoon, I'm looking for Miss Yamanaka... Sorry, am I interrupting anything?" He asked.
Sawako blinked. "Takeharu?"
"Wait, you know this guy?" Ritsu inquired as everyone looked curiously at their teacher.
She really didn't quite know how to answer that. "Well, um, sort of. Uh, excuse me, girls." She said, standing up and walking towards him. "What are you doing here? Is there something you need?" She said only loud enough for the two of them to hear. Sawako could feel the girls staring at her suspiciously from behind.
Haru gave her the piece of paper he was holding. "You dropped this yesterday while you were hurrying home." He said. "I wanted to return it sooner, but I still had work this morning."
Sawako took the paper and looked at it. "Hirasawa's test paper. So it was with you all along. I've been looking for it all day."
"I'm really sorry." He said, laughing nervously.
"No, it's fine." Sawako shook her head and smiled up at him. "Thanks for bringing it back to me."
Haru only grinned in response, giving Sawako a perfect view of his perfect teeth and glancing over at the group of girls at the tea table and recognizing a few familiar faces. He smiled at them, surprised. "Oh, Yui and Ui. Is that you?"
Yui and Ui both gasped as they realized just who he was. "Haru-chan!" Yui called, waving.
Everyone looked at the Hirasawa sisters. "Wait, you know him too?"
"Haru-senpai lives in the house in front of ours. He used to tutor me and my sister back when we were still in elementary school." Ui explained. Everyone was back at the tea table, and Haru was given a seat and a teacup right next to Sawako as the Hirasawa sisters introduced him to everyone else.
Everyone looked at him, amazed. To them, he looked refreshingly normal. "He's so clean!" They all said in unison, causing him to become extremely embarrassed. Then again, of all the words to describe him, why did it have to be 'clean'?
Yui sighed dreamily. "He's really nice. He makes good curry and always shares some with us."
Mio sighed. "Is food all you care about?"
"I thought the name on the test paper sounded familiar. I almost forgot your last name was Hirasawa." He told Ui and Yui.
"I didn't know you were already back from the States, though. Are you on vacation or something?" Ui said.
"I actually just got back a couple of weeks ago. I just graduated from Columbia, and I decided to come back to Japan. It was nice there and all, but there's just no place like home." He explained.
Ritsu raised her hand purposefully. "I completely agree, sir! There's no place like Japan!" Haru just smiled at her.
"Oh, that's right. You took CE, right?" Ui said. Haru nodded in response.
"CE? Columbia?" Yui asked, blinking as he looked at Ui and Haru.
Mio sighed. "It stands for Computer Engineering. And Columbia is an Ivy League University in New York City."
Mio could see Yui's face glow in amazement upon hearing the words 'Ivy League' and 'Engineering'. It was one thing for Yui to be oblivious about these things, but as soon as she saw the same expression on Ritsu's face, she just hung her head and gave up. Even now, these two were still hopeless.
Looks like Haru's got himself some fans, though.
"Well, Haru-senpai's always been really good at math, so I'm not surprised." Ui said. "Look at you, now a full-fledged engineer."
Yui grinned at Ui before looking at Haru again. "So does that mean you're back for good?" The question was getting Sawako's hopes up. She was really starting to like Haru, and it'd be nice if he came around more often.
Haru nodded. "I guess you could say that."
"So then, how'd you meet Miss Sawa-chan?" Ritsu pried, completely changing the subject. "Are you her boyfriend or something?"
"No, of course not!" Sawako defensively replied, almost immediately.
Haru only laughed as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "No, no. It's not like that. I just met her yesterday in front of the school. I kind of bumped into her." He said.
"Really, now? Or did you do it on purpose?" Ritsu said deviously, raising an eyebrow. It made him nervous. It was really starting to feel like some sort of interrogation.
She received a quick thwack to the head, courtesy of Mio. "Stop being so intrusive." She scolded.
"Nah, it's fine. I don't mind the questions." Haru said. "By the way, are you all members of the Light Music Club? I heard you guys play yesterday after school. It was really good." His appraisal actually caused the girls to blush, especially Azusa and Ui.
Mugi shook her head. "Oh, no. We've already graduated: Mio, Yui, Ritsu and I. You must have been listening to the Wakaba Girls." She said, pointing to the current members of the Light Music Club.
"What song were they playing?" Yui asked.
"I don't know." Said Haru. "But it went something like..." He then vocalized the guitar intro of Fuwa Fuwa Time rather sloppily. His voice wasn't that great, but then again, nobody's perfect.
Mio immediately recognized it. "Oh, you mean Fuwa Fuwa Time?"
"Ah, so it's called Fuwa Fuwa Time. How cute." Haru said. "I really love the bass line, it's catchy but it's not that complicated. Who wrote the song anyway?"
"That would be Mio right here." Ritsu said, pointing at their embarrassed bassist.
"Really? That's awesome." Haru extended his hand for a high five, but Mio only stared at it. He put it down, laughing at the embarrassment of his rejected high five. It was completely out of character, though. Haru really wasn't the 'high five' type. The idea must've just popped into his head because he was praising a kid. "What, you don't do high fives?"
Ritsu grinned. "Nah, she's just really, really shy. In fact, she's the definition of shyness in human form. She was born shy. She's the daughter of the Shy Gods."
"Do such things even exist, Ritsu-senpai?" Azusa said. None of what she said really made any sense.
"Am not!" Mio argued, her face turning red.
All of the girls stared at her. "She's so cute." They all said in unison.
"Oh." Haru replied, looking at Mio. Looks like what "But you're a performer, right? Shyness shouldn't be part of the equation."
"I know, it's just..." Mio didn't know how to finish that question. She caught a glimpse of Haru looking at her, worried, before she made her eyes focus on the table. They had barely even met, but he was already starting to act like an older brother. She was flattered, but the alien feeling made her feel uncomfortable, just like everything else does.
Haru could only shake his head and chuckle. "But to write a song like that with that bass line, you must be really talented, Mio."
Ritsu could see Mio getting really uncomfortably shy. This is probably the first time she got praised by someone like Takeharu, and she just didn't know how to handle it.
Suddenly, the bell rang, signalling that it was 6PM, causing Azusa to stand up in shock. "Oh, crap! It's already six!" She exclaimed, looking extremely disappointed. "And we didn't even get to practice."
"Wow, I didn't notice the time." Sawako said, glancing at her wristwatch. She stood up as well and looked at her students. "You girls should go home. We still have classes tomorrow." He then turned to Houkago Tea Time's college freshmen. "You too."
Ritsu raised an eyebrow and giggled mischievously at Sawako. "Really, Sawa-chan? You really don't sound like yourself today!"
"Well, how about this?" Sawako replied, pinching both of Ritsu's cheeks hard while managing to maintain a calm smile. Haru could only laugh nervously as he watched the girls bond. They were all laughing and this Mio girl hit the loud short-haired girl with the headband once again, while Yui was still cuddling with the long-haired girl in pigtails. They were all so weird that it was actually pretty cute.
"See you later, Sawa-chan! Haru-chan!"
The girls all waved the two of them goodbye as they left the school and started going home as one huge group. Haru and Sawako waved back and smiled, staring after them as they walked and made sure that they crossed the street safely before turning to each other again.
Sawako sighed in relief and smiled up at him. "Well, that was fun, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, it was. You've got pretty interesting students," Haru replied laughing. "Now that got me all nostalgic. High school really is the best years of our lives."
Sawako flinched and chuckled to herself, remembering her high school days, being part of the Light Music Club and all, and being the vocalist of the all-female metal band Death Devil. Yeah, good times.
Haru noticed her. "What's up? Something wrong?"
"Oh, no. It's nothing." Sawako giggled off, placing a hand over her mouth shyly. She had already locked away that part of her past; there really was no need trying to dig it up again and exposing it to a guy as nice as Haru. If he knew about it, he'd probably be so scared of her that he'd run away, like many of the guys she had grown to like.
She dreaded the thought. It's been so long since she's met a guy like Haru, and she didn't want him to step out of her life now that he's in. Well, at least not yet.
"So." Haru almost shouted, completely surprising her. "Do you have a lot to do tonight?"
"Are you asking me out already?" Sawako looked at him suspiciously, yet playfully, causing him to blush. She found that cute. He looked pretty tough and serious, but at the moment he was being so shy. She didn't want too appear too serious or too shy, but she didn't want to be seen as too aggressive either. "By the way," she said. "The way you commented before about the song you heard yesterday... you seemed to like the bass line a lot. Do you also play?"
He nodded, showing her the callused fingers on his right hand. "Yeah, but that was way back in high school. I haven't played since I graduated. I've been too busy."
"Oh, so you're a leftie, too?" Sawako was pleasantly surprised, remembering Akiyama. "You know, Mio, the shy one you talked to before; she's actually also a left-handed bassist. She'd be thrilled when she finds out you actually have something like that in common."
"Really? Are left-handed bassists that rare these days?" Haru said.
"Well, yes. Don't you think so?"
"Come to think of it, I guess we are a rare breed." Haru said, pondering on the idea. "But that doesn't mean we're better than the rest or anything special."
Sawako giggled. "You know, you're way too humble for your own good."
"Ha." Haru scoffed. "You think that. Wait until you hear me play. That's when you'll find out just how terrible I am."
Sawako could only laugh in reply. They continued to walk and talk about music and other things, until eventually she forgot that her car was still parked at the school. Haru did a great job distracting her as he walked her home, and all throughout his trip back to his own apartment, he was grinning like a fool.
He just couldn't stop smiling. And the same went for Sawako.
A/N: So how are you guys liking the story so far? Please don't hesitate to make corrections or point out some characters that seem out of character. And if there's anything in the story that doesn't seem right, you can tell me. I'm all for improvement. :bd Also, thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter. Your encouragement means a lot. I'll try my best not to disappoint. :)